The House voted on Wednesday to block US funding for the reconstruction of Gaza. The provision was introduced by Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) as an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which is the annual defense budget. House Democrats opposed the amendment, which passed by a simple voice vote.
The amendment appears at the end of subtitle A of title XVII, and says, “Add the following new section:
SEC. 17ll. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE FOR BUILDING IN, OR REBUILDING GAZA
None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available to the Secretary of Defense for fiscal year 2025 may be made available to build in or rebuild the Gaza Strip on or after the date
of the enactment of this Act.”
During his June 6 press briefing, State Dept. Spokesman Matthew Miller said, “In all of his calls, the Secretary has underscored the benefits of this proposal to both Israelis and Palestinians. For Palestinians, a ceasefire would see an end to the daily death toll in Gaza, and an end to the destruction that has torn so many families apart, and robbed children, women, and men of their lives and their futures. It would allow hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to begin returning to their neighborhoods as the international community surges humanitarian assistance into Gaza and launches a major reconstruction effort.”
Amendment sponsor Mast said on the House floor before the vote, “They are absolutely at war with one of our major and best allies anywhere across the globe.”
In January 2015, Mast volunteered with the IDF, working at a base outside Tel Aviv packing medical kits and moving supplies. After the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Mast wore his IDF uniform in Congress.
The Intercept, a vehemently anti-Israel news outlet, reported recently on “The Vicious Things Republicans Have Said About Palestinians Since October 7.” Here are some tidbits:
Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg declared at a town hall that the US “shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid” in Gaza. Instead, “it should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick.”
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Israel on October 11, 2023, “Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark) said in mid-October, 2023, “As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza,” adding, “Anything that happens in Gaza is the responsibility of Hamas. Hamas killed women and children in Israel last weekend.”
In late February, Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles told a pro-Hamas protester, “You know what, so, I think we should kill ’em all if that makes you feel better.”
